Are Law and Justice Related
Laws are sets of rules and regulations that are meant to be practiced and established by a form of government. Laws are meant to attempt to create equality throughout a community or society. For example the first amendment in the United States Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, press, speech, assembly, and religion. This law, upheld by the United States government and people, is created to provide each citizen their individual rights. This is meant to develop equality for each individual to believe and express what they desire. However, laws often have defects. They may not clearly state the literal meaning, resulting in various interpretations of a single law. For example in the Tinker v. Des Moines case three students were sent home because they were protesting against government's policy in Vietnam by wearing black armbands. In their opinion their rights to the freedom of expression was being threatened. In this situation who is right? The administration or the students? In other words who determines where justice will lie?
Laws are used to determine fair and appropriate sanctions for people in a society, this is known as justice. Justice is a formulated opinion on the fairness of how a conflict should be resolved. Influences from religion, economic background, and race are all factors that could potentially influence what an individual determines as just. What one social group defines as just may not be the same that another social group defines as just. For example sodomy laws may seem morally correct to individuals of a certain religion. However, why does a single religion get to determine what is allowed and what is not. Therefore depending on what side you support, you will determine if sodomy laws are